Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly and his staff notched 23 commitments on National Signing Day. The Irish garnered the 21st ranked class by ESPN and the 19th ranked class by Scout, while Rivals was a bit more generous and placed Notre Dame at number 14.

Considering the underwhelming on-field product of the three previous seasons and a late-year coaching change, the results were about as good…

The 2009 Irish offense has been dissected, detailed and summarized. Now it’s time to turn to the other side of the ball.

Many (myself included) believed Notre Dame’s 2009 defense would be a large step forward from a 2008 unit that was below average. The Irish returned a host of starters, an off-season coaching responsibility realignment by head coach Charlie Weis put co-defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta in charge…

Disclaimer: The following is not intended for betting purposes.

Similar to last year, the final AV Ranking values (see the values in the table below) will be used to predict the BCS bowl game winners against the spread.

The BCS games are as follows:

• Rose Bowl presented by Citi: Ohio State vs. Oregon
• Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Boise State vs. TCU
• Allstate Sugar Bowl: Cincinnati vs. Florida
• FedEx Orange Bowl: Iowa vs. Georgia Tech
• Citi…

With all of the recent and dramatic change in the Irish football program, the 2009 season seems to be mostly forgotten.

There is no bowl game. Sensational quarterback Jimmy Clausen and unanimous All-American and Biletnikoff Award-winning wide receiver Golden Tate have left for the NFL. And Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis has been replaced by Brian Kelly.

This seemingly serves as a forward-looking time for Notre Dame…

Clashmore Mike staff writer Anthony Pilcher was interviewed Saturday on the Joe O. & Rock show on 670 The Score regarding the hiring of Brian Kelly as the head coach at Notre Dame.

What follows are some further responses and elaboration on questions from the interview. The audio of the interview itself can be found at the bottom of this article.

On Brian Kelly’s Impact On The Irish Fan Base…

Notre Dame dropped their fourth-straight game Saturday and completed a second-half season slide for the second consecutive season. The Irish finish the regular season at 6-6, the six wins about at the expectation level of the most pessimistic fans.

For the 33 Irish seniors, it was a bitter way to end a season ripe with high expectations. For head coach Charlie Weis it was a final…

Notre Dame head coach Charlie Weis’ failure was evident long ago. His lack of experience with the college game and as a head coach made him unable to anticipate future problems and incapable of implementing changes to correct them.

His list of shortcomings is long and condemning, but painfully reiterating what the on-field product clearly shows adds no value other than venting frustration at the most readily…

If the ESP determined the National Championship Game participants, it would be all but a done deal. Unless Texas loses to Nebraska in the Big 12 Championship, they will face the winner of the SEC Championship game which pits Alabama and Florida for the second consecutive year.

TCU and Boise State have had great runs, but they are too far away in point differentials to make up the ground…

The 2009 regular season finale for the Fighting Irish will take place in Palo Alto Saturday. Notre Dame faces a much-improved Stanford team and is trying to avoid a four-game losing streak to close out the season. Doing so will be no small task.

This game once looked to be the final hurdle to an Irish BCS berth, now it appears to be an extremely daunting challenge.…

Editor’s note: I was at the Ole Miss – LSU game this weekend and was unable to watch Notre Dame play Connecticut. This analysis is directly from the box score and will undoubtedly lack certain insight that comes from viewing the game.

The Irish dropped their third straight Saturday, this time at home, on Senior Day, to the visiting Huskies. For the coaches, players and fans, it feels…